Environmental organization seeks space in Des Plaines

A Des Plaines-based national organization dedicated to more environmentally sustainable buildings and lifestyles hopes to turn the town into a suburban leader in that effort.

Deep Green hopes to lease city-owned retail space in the 1400 block of Miner Street for a "community center" that could serve as a meeting space, resource library, and perhaps even offer a coffee shop and retail space — in other words, a place to exchange ideas for promoting a greener way of life, according to the organization's chairman, Cynthia Morgan.

"It would really serve as an educational facility more than anything," said Morgan, who presented Deep Green's concept to the city council on Dec. 3. Aldermen referred the group's request to city officials for further study.

Officials will have to determine whether to repair and lease the spaces located behind the Pace bus shelter or to sell them, City Manager Michael Bartholomew said. If the former, the city should seek market-rate rent; if the latter, the city should sell to the highest bidder, he added.

Morgan said Deep Green's plan is similar to Next Door, a State Farm-sponsored project at 659 W. Diversey Parkway in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood that is a "quasi-coffee house" but also a center for people to exchange ideas and programs on financial advice.

"There's nobody in the country right now doing a holistic approach" to a more environmentally sustainable way of life, she said.

Morgan said Deep Green's center would offer that approach, from building to programs to services that would all be focused on sustainability initiatives.

"People want something at the neighborhood level, they want to participate," Morgan said.

"There don't seem to be ways to do that," but the proposed center would change that for Des Plaines, she said.

Deep Green's website touts its ability to help with corporate sustainability, focusing on the money that can be saved with energy efficiency and lowering a company's carbon footprint.

Morgan said those topics can include initiatives like recycling, developing a "youth corps" of teens who help residents conduct green energy audits of their homes, agricultural programs like community gardens, and corporate social responsibility.

Ald. Dick Sayad, 4th, who may yet join Walsten and Ald. Mark Bogusz, 3rd, in the race to replace Mayor Marty Boylan, said Deep Green is "interesting" and that the city should try and find space for it.